The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (Italian: Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale"), founded in 1932, is the oldest international film festival in the world.[1][2] The film festival is part of the Venice Biennale which was founded by the Venetian City Council in 1895. The Biennale consists (now) of a range of separate events including (the International Art Exhibition (Venice); the International Festival of Contemporary Music (Venice); the International Theatre Festival (Venice), the International Architecture Exhibition (Venice), the International Festival of Contemporary Dance (Venice), and the International Kids’ Carnival (Venice) of which the Venice Film festival is probably the best known event.

The film festival has since taken place in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice, Italy. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi and in other venues nearby. Since its inception the Film Festival has become the most prestigious international film festival in the world. The 72nd Festival is scheduled to take place from 2 to 12 September 2015.

The "Marcello Mastroianni Award" was instituted in 1998 in honor of the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni who died in 1996. The award was created to acknowledge an emerging actor or actress, and can be compared to the "Volpi Cup", the award for Best Actor and Best Actress. [3]

presents a panorama on Italian cinema with 7 narrative feature-length films, 7 short films, and 7 documentaries, all world premiere screenings and all in competition in their respective categories. The awards of this section are:

The “Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker” award was created by the Venice Film Festival and organized in collaboration with Jaeger-LeCoultre. It is dedicated to personalities that have made a significant contribution to contemporary cinema. [4]

The Mussolini Cups were the top awards from 1934 to 1942 for best Italian and best foreign film. Named after Italy's then dictator prime minister, Benito Mussolini, they were abandoned upon his ousting in 1943. [5]

In the first edition of the festival in 1932, due to the lack of a jury and the awarding of official prizes, a list of acknowledgements was decided by popular vote, an tally determined by the number of people flocking to the films, and announced by the Organizing Committee. From this the Best Director was declared – Russian Nikolaj Ekk for the film The Road to Life, while the film by René ClairGive Us Liberty was voted Best Film.